Burned
by Alexandyne
Summary: Alex was a seventh grader... who was marked in green diamond. Not knowing what to do with her, they send her to the Counsil... what will happen when she sees Zoey's still breathing body? Or, when 2 new elements arise?
1. Marked

Alex's POV:

I stretched happily. School was over in 3 minutes and I was totally content to sit in the 7th grade classroom with Jared next to me. I smiled at him and he smiled back. Lots of people thought it was weird for a guy and a girl to be best friends, especially after Elementary school, but we really didn't care. Jared looked somewhat sheepishly at me. I sighed.

"What did you do now?" I asked him.

"Nothing...."

"Liar. I know you did something. You have that look on your face."

"I might have planted a smoke bomb in the teacher's work room...."

"I really need to tell your mother to keep you away from Potassium."

"No! I like meh smokey bombs...."

"Sure..." I rolled my eyes at him. He should not be allowed to have sugar, potassium, and a hot skillet in the same place. I coughed a little, and realized that was the only sound in the room. I frowned and looked around. Everyone was absolutely dead silent. Jared noticed too, and he clearly didn't want to break the silence -- he put his hand to his mouth to stifle a cough. Maybe we were coming down with the flu.

I followed everyone's line of gaze. I nearly fell over backward in shock. A vampyre male, with intricate designs around his full blown moon cresent, was in the room. Jared and I sat there gawking with the rest of the class. We were all 12, so none of us had really seen a vamp before..... The bell rang and no one moved.

"May I help you?" Mr. Baynes asked the vamp. The vamp turned his attention to the proffessor.

"No."

"Then why are you here?"

The vamp ignored him. My blood began to chill as he turned and looked straight at me. Then at Jared. Then back to me. Jared's Grey eyes were huge. So were my sapphire ones.

"Alexandryne Rose and Jared Williamson, you are chosen by the Goddess to be Marked!" the vamp yelled. He pushed one hand at each of us. The pain that followed made me want to scream. My flesh felt like it was burning as the little crescent moon carved it's way into my forehead. I heard Jared gasp out. I looked over to him, but could only see a mop of auburn hair. I was the first one to straighten.

I was shaking as I fingered my searing skin. All of my classmates were staring at me like I was an alien. Even Sam.... the guy who had had a crush on me. The vampire disappeared in a plume of smoke. The class ran for it.... and Jared staightened. I gasped. He gasped. We both gasped.

His Mark looked like someone had burned the mark into his skin, to it had turned black, but it was radiating an odd neon green colour. I knew, judging by his expression, mine was similar. As hi Mark cooled, it turned to a dark greed that seemed to glow and shimmered like it was encrusted with diamonds. I ran over to one of the mirrors in the corner of the room that Mr. Baynes suspended from girls who tried to do their make up in class. Mine was almost the same as his, except my moon was upside down. Like, instead of looking like a backwards C id looked like a n.... so flopped on it's side. I felt like hacking my guts up.

Since when did kids that weren't teens get Marked? And... weren't Marks supposed to be sapphire?

"Alex. Jared. You need to get to the House of Night. Now," Mr Baynes said softly. I looked at him.

"I can't... I have no way to get there. And my parents hate vamps," I said.

"So do mine," chimed Jared.

"I can drive you. I'll explain to your parents. The nearest one would be the House of Huston," Mr. Baynes said. Right then, I thought I had the best teacher in the whole stinking world.


	2. Serah

Alex's POV:

I couldn't help touching my forehead as we drove in my teachers car for an hour or two to the House Of Houston. Jared was clearly trying not to throw up -- something most newly Marked do. I was perfectly fine, though. I clinched my fist and forced myself to stop touching the Mark. It made the newly skin hurt way too much.

"When we get there, maybe we can make some explosives. I'm sure they have plenty of matches and potassium," I told Jared. That made him smile. "I mean, they must have Potassium -- they have stump remover in powder form for sure."

"So it was you guys who have been putting bombs every where?" Mr Baynes asked. Jared and I fell into a guilty silence. Until Mr. Baynes broke it. "Awesome." Yup, Mr. Baynes is totally the awesomest teacher on the face of the earth.

"Yup.... The small explosives are the easiest, but the smoke bombs -- so long as you have Salt peter (AN: also known as Potassium Nitrate), sugar, and a hot skillet the Smoke bombs are easy too. They take less time." I said.

"Cool." Mr. Baynes smirked. "I used to make Salt bombs as a kid. You can add powdered die when you cook it and the smoke changes colour."

"Awesomeness!" Jared said around his nausea. "We'll have to try that!!"

"Yeah Well you'll have to wait 10 minutes till you get to the House.... I don't want you throwing up in my car. Tell me how it goes." Then the car was silent again.

The House we got to was huge. It looked like an ancient castle stepped out of the old times, covered with pictures of their Goddess. The gate slid open for us as we drove onto campus. We had some vamps frowning at us, but just about immediately Jared stopped looking like he was gonna barf. Mr. Baynes slid into a parking space and I stepped nimbly out of the car. I stood pencil straight an pulled my hat down over my Mark out of instinct. My long black hair whipped around my face in the chilly air and my sapphire eyes narrowed at a large, bulky male vamp who stepped within 10 feet of me. I heard Jared make his way around the car to stand next to me. THIS is one of those times that having a totally strong, pyrotechnic guy-friend comes in total handy.

I reached my hand into my pocket and fingered the box of matches that sat there. I knew Jared was touching his film-case bomb and matches, too. He had probably pulled his hood up to hide his Mark.

"Why are humans on campus?" the one who I had glared at asked in broken English, with a weird accent.

"They have been Marked," Mr. Baynes said calmly. All the vamps broke out in laughter.

"These mere children? I'm sorry you are mistaken. Only teenagers turn!!" he bellowed.

"We have so been Marked!" I yelled indignantly. "And even though we're kids we can make a bomb that can blow all your vamp asses off!"

"Really?" he sounded amused, but he had stopped laughing. Jared and I -- in perfect sinc -- removed the blocks. My Mark began to sting again. The man gave off a tense little laugh.

"The Marks are supposed to be blue. And, boy, yours is backwards. Girl, yours is sideways and backwards. I think you'd have to do better than that with make up!"

"These Marks are real," my voice became threatening.

"And we were Marked just 2 hours ago," Jared finished. All traces of a smile left their faces.

"You will go see Serah. She is our High Priestess. We will see what she makes of you," he said. Mr. Baynes frowned.

"I will stay with them for right now until this is straightened out. And then I'll have your parents mail you your stuff," Mr. Baynes told us. The vamps tensed some, but didn't object. We were surrounded by them and they led us into the building. We followed a bunch of twists and turns through the halls, until we finally came to a door. The vamp lifted his fist to knock but the door opened before he actually touched it. A striking woman with big thick blonde hair and big brown eyes was there. She frowned some at the vamp.

"Traintus. Why are you disturbing me? You should be on the perimeter." Her words would have been harsh if it hadn't been for her affectionate tone.

"We have a human who claims these two children have been Marked," the vamp -- Traintus -- said. Serah turned her attention to Jared and I, with our Marks in plain sight.

"We CLAIM nothing. Some weird vamp showed up and waved his hands at us screaming something about us being Marked by the Goddess, and these things showed up on our heads," Jared growled.

"They might not be the right colour or shape but they are moons and they are Marks," I finished snapping. The High Priestess looked at me cautiously.

"I believe them. But they are odd fledglings. Are you sure you are fledglings? You seem young."

"Yes," I growled. "Maybe. No. Yes. I don't know! The only one that knows is that... that.... that Tracker! I don't know what I am! All I know is that this thing appeared on my head! Whether I'm a Fledgling or not, I have the Mark and Jared here was about to puke his guts up till we got here!"

Serah frowned. Then her eyes got cloudy, and she went really still. She jolted out of it in a few moments.

"Nyx says you are Fledglings.... the House of Night to best care for you though seems to be the House Of Tulsa. They're accustomed to weird things.... they might have had something like you before. We will send out out on a plane soon. But for now you get used to your Mark while they try to calm some turmoil."

"Alright," I said tensely.

"But," Jared added.

"We need to have things explained," I finished.

"Like?"

"Well, we know most of it from school,"I said.

"Like, the mentors, Nyx, the council, etcetera," Jared nodded.

"SO we need to know about the blood, and who's gonna be our mentor," I finished again.

"I can answer that," a short man breezed into the room. He had swords framing his face, and his eyes seemed dark like he had gone through major pain.

"Who are you?" Jared asked.

"I am Dragon Lankford. You may call me Dragon. I am a teacher at the House Of Tulsa, where you will be going -- nice coincidence I was here on business."

"OH! You're the guy that... uh, is good at fencing?" I asked. I remember reading something about him in a book. He smiled, though it seemed strained.

"Yes. That is me. And I will take you into my group. I will be your mentor. That is if Serah deems it fit," Dragon turned to look at the Hight Priestess.

"I deem it fit," she agreed. "But Dragon, can you deal with this so soon after.....?"

"Yes," pain flickered in his eyes. "They will take my mind off things. And maybe when Zoey returns from Italy she will help them fit in. She knows quite a handful about being.... abnormal."

"Zoey?" Jared asked.

"Yes. She is a special fledgling at the House of Tulsa. She's gone to visit the Council over some matter of a fallen immortal."

"Oh," I said. Dragon smiled at that.

"You remind me of someone.... the Twins. That's who. They are always on the same page, just like you and Jared." I frowned some at his words. I guessed these would all be people I'd meet.

"We will leave for Tulsa tomorrow at sunset. Will you have your things by then?" Dragon asked Mr. Baynes now.

"I think I can get their stuff to them by that time. Maybe their parents will even get over their eternal hatred of vamps to come say goodbye."

"Really? How intriguing," Dragon said. "It always seems the children with the least understanding parents end up with the Marks. Especially the ones that are.... different."

"It seems so. The last time one of my students was Marked was when I taught a boy named Erik Night in a 9th grade year."

"Erik Night?" Dragon seemed utterly surprised. "Erik Night is one of the newly turned vamps at the House Of Tulsa. How interesting -- he's the temporary drama teacher."

"He was always into drama," Mr. Baynes recalled. "I'd often catch him reading scripts in my class instead of reading his science book. And then I'd make him do something with himself, so he'd get up in front of the class and preform. If he was going to read in my class he'd make it worth while. And he certainly did. When you return, tell him I'm glad for his success."

"I will," Dragon smiled. "I hope we meet again...?"

"Corey. Corey Baynes," Mr Baynes replied.

"OK Corey. I hope we meet again," Dragon said. "But for now I'm sure these children should sleep."

"They should. I will tell their parents. I hope to meet you again, as well," Mr. Baynes nodded and smiled. They shook hands the vampyre way. And then he left. And. We. Were. Alone. With. A. Bunch. Of. Vampires.

"I'm assuming we will put you in the guest suites. Because I assume you guys will want to be near each other?" Serah gave us an understanding look.

"Yeah," Jared and I said together. "Familiarity is good. Speaking of familiar.... to you happen to have sugar, powdered stump remover, a stove, an old film container, aluminium foil, matches, glue, and a drill??"

"Yeah...." sdhe looked at us suspiciously. "Why?"

Jared shrugged. "Because we -"

"- like to make small bombs."

She just laughed. "You realize this is a hard time to be a vampire? We believe there may be trouble afoot. Bombs might be a good thing to have... could you leave some with us??"

"Sure. If you want stronger ones we'll need gun powder, fertilizer, and gassoline," I said.

"And a few wicks," Jared added.

"Of course," she smiled. "We'll get those. Traintus, show them to their rooms."

* * *

**CAUTION: THE RECIPIES FOR BOMBS IN THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER ARE REAL AND WILL EXPLODE UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE DO NOT DO AT HOME!!! **(even though I will)


	3. Let's Make Some Bombs

Alex's POV:

I sat forward on the bed. My shoulders were tense, and I had just taken an Asprin to help me deal with the shock and major head ache that was setting in. Jared had come into my room from his down the hall and was pacing anxiously.

"Hello?" a muffled voice came from behind the door. Jared got there first to open it. Serah was there, with a wagon behind her filled with stuff.

"What do we have?" I asked. I was eager to start on explosives... other wise my head might explode. The Mark felt like I was burning again.

"We have the film cases, matches, foil, glue, drill, wicks, the stump remover, duct tape, cotton balls, scissors, die, gasoline, gunpowder, and the fertilizer," Serah said. we smiled. "Oh, and a portable stove."

"Awesome. Maybe small explosives will take our minds off things," I said.

"And that is fortunate for us. We think we may be entering a time of war and any diffence is welcome," Serah smiled.

"This will ONLY be used for diffence, correct?" I asked cautiously.

"Of course," she replied.

"Then we will be happy to leave explosives with you," Jared said. I nodded.

"Alexandryne, Jared.... I will leave you to your work," Serah smiled. Again. "You are quite remarkable." then she left.

"OK Jare Bear," I used the name I called him when we were four.

"OK Rosey," he used the name he called me in return. I narrowed my eyes but laughed openly anyways.

"Alright. Smoke Bombs or real bombs?" I asked.

"Smoke bombs," he said.

"OK. If you get out the stump remover and sugar I'll get the stove and light it," I said. He nodded. I went into the wagon she had left in the room. I pulled out the portable stove, plugged it in, and turned it on. I took a large pot and put it on top. Jared poured some of the powdered stump remover into his hand, and put in 3 handfuls. Then he added 2 of sugar. I handed him a spoon and he began stirring the powders.

I got out the box of matches and began cutting of the heads. I took 4 or 5 of them and rolled them into little tin foil balls. When I had about 20 I put them all into a little film container, and filled the rest with glue. I let it dry when I started on the second set.

"So..." Jared said.

"So," I nodded some.

"Are we always doomed to be weird?" Jared asked, taking the carmalized sugar and Potassium off the heat. It looked like peanut butter. I pushed a piece of tin foil towards him and he threw it in a huge dollop down on the foil. he molded the tin foil around it into a cylinder and stuck a pen in the top, so it was sticking out.

"I guess. These.... THINGS on our forehead say so. I wonder what the House of Tulsa is like?" I mused as I sprinkled gun powder -- for extra boom -- in the 2nd one of my bombs. Jared's bomb was done drying so he pulled out the pen and wrapped duct tape around the outside. He put the wick into the hole and stuffed it up with cotton balls. My glue on the first one was done drying, so I put on the lid of the film container and took the drill to it. I drilled down down down.... all the way to the tin balls. I put in a wick.

"Probably like this -like, and filled with vamps."

"Yeah," I sighed. "I wonder what she meant by the whole 'they've been going through a bunch of weird stuff lately' thing."

"Maybe sleeping on it will make it better," Jared said, pouring gun powder, gasoline, and fertilizer into a pot with more of the caramelized Potassium. then he shaped that too into a cylinder.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Maybe that'll make this -" I waved at our Marks "make sense. And then we leave for Tulsa. It'll be odd to be so young."

"Probably. Just... lets finish these bombs and go to sleep," Jared yawned for punctuation. "We'll probably sleep until nearly sunset tomorrow. And then.... then we'll figure out what to do." I nodded and we fell silent as I finished the 4th little bomb while Jared finished the 2nd smoke bomb. Smoke ones take longer.

"So... I'll see you on the plane tomorrow with Dragon, I guess. Jeez, Jared, this is so weird."

"I know, Alex. I know. But you're a strong girl. If I'm sure of anything you can protect yourself better than anyone else. Nothing to fear. Good night," Jared smiled at me and I remembered why he was such a good friend. He left and I went to bed feeling like everything would be fine, and I would wake up from a perfect sleep to find the world in focus.

Too bad it never works quite like that.


	4. Dreams Of Nyx

My dream was really messed up. Let's put it that way.

I was sitting in the window of a huge castle, staring out at the blue water of the ocean in the darkness of night. It was peaceful, and beautiful. My feet dangled over the sill, and my shoes fell some 50 feet below me to land in a rose bush. Oh well. I wiggled my toes in the air.

Sounds of arguing came from bellow me. I looked down and saw 3 people. There was one hiding behind a bush, watching the other 2. That one seemed perfectly normal. A human. I looked at the 2 who were arguing. One was a female vamp with thick auburn hair, and a look in her eyes of darkness. The other had his back to me, and he wasn't wearing a shirt. He had big black wings tucked neatly to his sides, and thick black hair fell to about his shoulders. I couldn't see his face, but knew he was gorgeous. And evil.

"I don't like you pretending to be something you're not for her," The vamp was saying. The man told her something I couldn't really hear.

"I killed the last man who tried to claim both me and Zoey for himself..." she said.

"Neferet..." I caught a snatch of his reply. I noticed the guy hiding in the bushes tensed up a lot. After a few more sentences I couldn't hear, the woman stalked into the bushes. The man with the wings turned very slowly to the guy in the bushes. The guy in the bushes got very pale.

"So you have a new story to go tell Zoey?" the wind carried the winged guy's voice to me. And immediatly I knew the guy in the bushes was gonna die.

"Kalona..." I heard the guy from the bushes say the other dude's name.

The bush-guy got up and walked towards Kalona. I saw another girl running through the bushes in their general direction, and saw another guy running towards them from the other directions. Kalona reached out to snap the bush-guy's neck just as the other two got to them. The guy started running toward the girl, and the girl raised her hands and yelled something about 'Spirit'. The Kalona guy snapped the bush-guy's neck, and then he stumbled back and the girl fell to the ground. Kalona screamed and flew away. Screamed -- like a full on girl scream.

"ZOEY!" The guy yelled, running towards the girl who had fallen, nearly tripping over the dead bush-guy's body. The girl didn't move and her eyes were open. Dead, maybe. A bunch of other people ran into the clearing area, and the vision shattered.

Now I was sitting on a table in a huge palace, watching a beautiful woman who looked kinda like the virgin Mary statue I saw in the church (that I never went to) by my house. She was talking stonily to Kalona. Except this Kalona had white wings.... and then a huge crack opened in the ground and he fell through it. I got up and ran to look and saw that when the ground opened up there was sky beneath it, and beneath that ground. We were in a castle. In. The. Air. I saw the guy hit the ground, and then saw the spiralling speck of white that was his wings disappear into darkness.... black. His wings turned black, just like before.

"Alex," a soft voice called. I wheeled around at my name, to stare straight into the face of the person who had sent Kalona to his death. But, unlike Kalona, I was getting a good vibe from her. That's when the dream stopped being so... dream like and it felt real.

"Who are you?" I meant to make my voice sound mean and not nearly as weirded out as I felt, but it came out as a whisper.

"I am Nyx," she said calmly.

"Oh... are you that chick they say is their goddess?" I asked.

"Yes," she laughed. "I am their Goddess."

"OK. What. Is. Going. On," I asked. "Why is my mark green? Why did some weird winged dude just fall? And why did I watch some girl just die?? And..."

"Calm down. All questions will be answered soon," she smiled kindly. "Your Mark is green because you are special. You are a new kind of vampyre. You are the ones who will cherish all 7 elements highly in regards and match them to their true points of the Circle. And you watched a flash back of Kalona falling from my realm. Make no mistake... he is evil. You watched Zoey die because you can save her. And you need to. You, Zoey, Jared, Stevie Rae, Damien, Erin, and Shaunee are destined for something great."

"Like WHAT?!" I yelled. "Why me? What's special about Jared and I?! Why did you choose us?! We can't drive, we can't vote, we can't drink, we can't control any of the elements, we can't even end up real vampyres!"

"You are real vampires. You are simply Emerald Vampyres." When she said that, the entire thing broke like a mirror and I woke up.


	5. Following My Very Own Body

I got up and slammed open the door. My bare feet pounded against the tile as I ran top speed through the halls. I heard footsteps following, and knew Jared must have heard me. I was faster, but I was never able to run as long as him. So he caught me eventually, and grabbed my arm. I stopped and spun to face him.

"Alex? Are you OK?" he looked at me with a deep concern.

"Yes. But other's aren't. I have to get to Serah NOW. Right now. Lemme go!" I yelled. I wrenched myself free and ran faster and faster. I avoided the scarce others who were in the halls, but one reached out and caught me. I looked up to see Traintus frowning at me.

"Girl, what is un-right?" he asked in his broken English.

"Everything! I need to get Serah! And Dragon! Now!! People are in trouble!" I flailed against his grip, but Jared had caught up and reinforced their hold. I realized this was pointless and slowly stopped flailing. "I need Serah..."

"What's wrong??" Jared asked.

"No! I need Serah! NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW -"

"I'm here," Serah's voice cut off my yelling "now" fit.

"I need Dragon," I grumbled.

"I'm here too," Dragon said. I noticed that he had been down the hall.

"I need to talk to you guys alone. Right. Now," I said. They frowned as if they thought I might be pulling their leg. "It involves Zoey!" That got them moving. They had Traintus bring me into a room with a desk and some chairs and then everyone left but Serah and Dragon. They sat down in chairs, and I didn't. I paced.

"OK, what is so urgent?" Dragon sounded tired, and short of patience.

"I had a dream..."

"Aw, great. So it's a nightmare? Or are you reciting Martin Luther King's speech?!" Dragon yelled.

"No!" My voice filled with an amazing power that shocked everyone in the room -- including me. "No. I'm not reciting a speech. And it was more of a vision than anything else. And in this vision, Zoey died."

"How?" Serah asked calmly.

"A boy hiding in bushes was eaves dropping on some weird vampyre chick with Auburn hair... I think her name was Neferet... talking with a guy with black wings who was Kalona. He over heard them talking about killing Zoey or something, and when Neferet stalked off all angry Kalona turned to the bush-guy and said something about having a story to tell Zoey, and then he snapped his neck. Right before then Zoey showed up and zapped him with Spirit, and then she fell to the ground all lifeless and stuff. Kalona screamed and flew away and a bunch of other people showed up and crowded around Zoey, and then the dream stopped."

"Describe the... bush-guy," Dragon seemed really tense. I decided I would not tell them about the Nyx dream.

"It was really dark, but his hair seemed blondish and he was firmly built. And human," I said.

"Heath," Dragon hissed.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Her Imprinted human. That would be why Zoey fell... vampyres have strong connections with their humans, so they only survive what each other can survive. So, if Zoey was being cut up heat would also feel like that. But humans deal with less than vampyres, so Heath might die when Zoey didn't. But breaking a neck is a universal death. Zoey expirienced it too."

"Oh," was all I could say.

"When did you see this happen?" he asked me with a new urgency.

"I don't know. The moon was half way to directly over my head, out on the ocean. It was the day after a new moon... there was only the tiniest sliver, and it was in the waxing moon position," I answered.

"Shit. That's the night of the Council. Tonight. The council starts at sunset... which is in 5 minutes, when we're supposed to leave," Dragon said.

"OK then call them," I said.

"No. You see, it doesn't work like that. It's already happened, because sunset here is later than there. Zoey is already dead," Dragon said. "Everyone's dead..."

* * *

DRAGON'S POV:

Everyone keeps dying. Everyone. First my dear Anastasia, and then Zoey. And Heath... and all those Raven Mockers, and too many others. Why does anyone who spends time with me DIE?! Not the Raven Mockers, of course -- I couldn't care less about them. But... everyone dies. Everyone.

* * *

Zoey's POV:

The image of the Otherworld was breaking into tiny chunks, and I was falling backwards towards my body. My soul missed, though, and I landed with a little bit of pain right next to my body. Great. Another out of body experience. I looked around. Everyone was crying around my body. I looked up and saw a transparent girl sitting in the window, frowning at us. Was she a ghost, too? She had dark hair, and the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen. They had a sapphire hint, like my tattoos. Speaking of tattoos.... why was hers green? Then she broke into hundreds of little pieces like a mirror.

"She's still breathing! We need to get her to the infirmary!" Darius yelled.

"She's breathing, but her soul is gone," Stark said bitterly. I looked at his face and knew he blamed himself.

"Guys, I'm right here," I said. My words turned purple. None of them looked up. Poopie. They couldn't hear me. I looked at my body. Was it still breathing? Yes, it was. But... where were my tattoos? Hmph.

"Her soul might return, Warrior," Darius said calmly. "But only if we keep her body alive."

I wanted to get back in my body and tell them I was fine. I put my foot on my body, but I didn't get sucked in or anything. I jumped up and down through my body. Nothing happened. So I could only follow as they carried my body to the infermary.


	6. Planes

"Everyone's dead?" I asked.

"Yes. Everyone's dead. My wife, Zoey, everyone.... forget Tulsa. Jared and yourself need to get to the Council. There's something special about you and the Council may be able to help," Dragon said.

"OK," I took a deep breath. "I kinda spazzed out on Jared. I need to go talk to him... and then we will have to get on the plane." Dragon nodded and I turned to walk out.

"Is there anything else?" Serah's voice stopped me. I looked back over my shoulder.

"Yes." I took a few more steps towards the door.

"Well?" Dragon's voice was tired. I looked back again.

"There are 2 more elements," I said. Then I turned and walked out of the room. I heard Serah and Dragon whispering as I left.

"Alex?" I heard a tentative voice ask. I looked up and saw Jared looking at me.

"I'm sorry Jared," I whispered. "I just got freaked out. I had a dream about something, and it was coming true as I dreamt it. Sorry I wigged out on you."

"It's OK," he smiled. He had his confidence back and straightened his shoulders. "So what happened?"

"I'll explain in the room," I said, looking around at all the people who were trying to discreetly eaves drop. He nodded with understanding. So we walked together back to the room, hand in hand. It felt good to walk with a friend. We were only friends -- come on, we were only in seventh grade. And we had known each other forever... how could we be anything else? We had everything in common. We had the same birthday, the same eyes, we each loved bombs... and we each had a secret we shared that no one else could know. And we were each Marked with Emerald tattoos.

I had had a gut feeling that I couldn't tell Serah or Dragon about the second dream. They might think I was crazy. But it was gone when it came to Jared.... of course I could trust him without worrying about him thinking I was crazy. Most other's would think we were crazy if we told him about our other secrets, too. So why not tell him? We stepped into my room, and I closed the door.

"Jared, I had a dream-like-vision thing," I said. He nodded for me to continue. He seemed to get a little pale, but I ignored it. "I had a dream about Zoey dying. And it's already come true." I filled him in on everything, watching him grow steadily paler. When I finished with the Nyx part, he was whiter than the ice outside.

"I had the same dream... with some slight moderations. I was closer to the ground, so I heard their names. Heath was the one in the bushes, and Stark was the one who ran to Zoey." I stared at Jared open mouthed for a little.

"I assume Nyx didn't call you Alex, though," I said. He shook his head.

"And I missed the big hug scene cause I was hidden behind a bush. I didn't see Zoey fall and die," he said. I nodded.

"We need to get on the plane," I said. "Maybe.... maybe we can find some way to help them when we get there."

"Yes. Let's go find Dragon and get to the plane," I nodded. We got up and made out way out of the room and got out into the hall. We walked back to where Dragon had been last and ran straight into him.

"Are we ready to go?" he looked tired and sad. Jared and I nodded. "Sleep along the way, Alexandryne. Maybe we can get more information. It could be very important."

"Jared had the same dream, but from a different direction," I said. "And I go by Alex." Dragon frowned, but nodded.

"Do you have free movement in these dreams?" he asked. Jared and I both nodded. It wasn't like those freaky things where you can't control where you go. I did have control and a sensible mind in that dream, like I was really there. "Good. Get close. We'll need to know what's going on."

"Alright. Where's the plane?" I asked.

"And I'm guessing out parents never showed up... did they?" Jared asked. Dragon shook his head.

"Corey said he'd get them to mail your stuff to Tulsa," Dragon said.

"Corey?" I asked.

"Your teacher," he answered.

"Oh," I nodded.

"The plane is on our private runway out back," he said. He started walking and we followed him. Left, right, left left, straight, right, right, U-turn, and right..... then we broke out of the door. We followed Dragon's amazingly long gait (geez, for a short guy he was fast) over to the fence. He went through a whole in the fence, and we followed him.... we ended up eventually on something like a big long flat road with a plane on it. It was a fairly small plane, only about 30 feet long. But it was large as far as personal planes go.

Dragon opened the hatch with a SQUEEEEEEAK and stepped into the plane. He flicked on the lights, revealing a lush interior with rugs so thick I couldn't see the toes of my shoes. There were large chairs that looked like they could recline all the way back, into beds. The only seatbelts were thin lap straps. I waded my way through the red rug to one of the seats. Jared took the one next to it.

"Who's driving?" I asked.

"Me," Dragon said calmly.

"You're a pilot?" Jared asked, his face incredulous. Dragon nodded.

"Sleep," he said. "We'll need all the information we can get. You two work together...." He walked into the pilot cock. The plane leapt to life, and we started rolling down the track. Faster, faster, and then we took off. And then I heard Jared snoring. And then...................... I don't know 'then' cause I fell asleep. With more dreams. Ugh.


	7. An Element Zoey Helped Us Find

I was on that window again. Except, now, no one was in the clearing.

"Jared," I called very softly. My words turned purple in the air. The night was darker than before, and the moon was higher in the sky.

"Alex?" I heard Jared call from below me to the left. I looked down in that direction and could barely see the tips of his Nike's.

"I'm coming down," I called a little bit stronger. I turned and placed my hands on the sill, and let myself drop so I was just holding on with my hands. I hooked my feet into the window under me, and dropped so I landed on that sill. I kept doing that until I landed on the ground. Jared mimicked me and met me there.

"OK, where did everybody go?" he asked.

"I bet they took her body somewhere where they could care for her," I said. He nodded.

"Alright... split up. We can find them, and then just yell. Yell loud enough for the other to hear," I said. Jared nodded. He ran in the direction Zoey had been running from, and I ran in the direction of the bush-guy.... Heath. The echo of my feet was green in the air. The path was dark stone, and it felt like I was running through a maze with the bushes and plants around me and the path, which was really twisty. Eventually I came to a door. I reached to open it.... and just went right through it. _Oh yeah. I'm not really here. _

I jumped through the door, and set my feet soundly on the tile. I nearly ran into a vampyre walking down the hall. She didn't even look up... the was trying to remain a dignified jog. She was wearing a white nurses uniform.... so I followed her. I glided along rather easily, just following her. I actually went through some vampyres that rushed around the vamp I was following. They crinkled their faces some, like they had just experienced an uncomfortable wind, but didn't notice ME. Eventually, the nurse barged through intricately carved double doors into a room with a bunch of sheets hanging from the ceiling, and beds. Clearly the infirmary.

"JAR-RED!" I yelled. "Found it!!" No one even looked up. Except for one girl. She had black hair and pale skin, and looked at me with wide brown eyes. She had a normal fledgling Mark on her forehead.

"Who are you?" she demanded. No one even looked at her.

"I could ask you the same thing," I snapped.

"No you can't. I've seen you twice... YOU tell ME who YOU are!" she demanded.

"Why the hell should I? And how can you see me anyway?" I growled. I balled my hands into fists...

"Alex? What's going on? Who are you ta- who the hell are you?" Jared's voice came from behind me. I spun to see his head sticking through the door.

"I'm talking to this weird girl who some how can see us," I motioned to the dark haired girl. "And I was just trying to figure out who the hell she was."

"So. You're Alex... now who are YOU?" she demanded, looking at Jared.

"Jared. Jared Williamson.... who are you and why can you see us?" he asked.

"I'm Zoey Redbird," she said.

"Oh my god you're the one who died!" I yelled.

"Yeah. I'm dead. I'm a ghost like thing. But my body is still breathing.... dude, what's up with your tattoos?" she frowned at my forehead.

"We don't really know. Dragon didn't have any ideas," I said, shrugging.

"How do you know Dragon?" she stiffened immediately.

"He's our mentor," I said. "How do you know him?"

"He's my fencing instructor," she said.

"Hmm. Zoey, you're the one with the affinity for 5 of the elements?" I asked.

"Yeah. Wait," she frowned. "5 of them? You mean... ALL of them."

"No. Just five," I said. Then I frowned. "There are 7. Surely Nyx told you that."

"No, she hasn't," Zoey's voice was cold.

"Well she told me after I watched you die. She didn't tell me what they were though," I said.

"She told me too," Jared nodded. Zoey sighed.

"Fine. So when did you guys die?" she looked at us. Jared and I frowned, and then we laughed.

"We're not dead!" I said between cackles. "When we dream we experience something important that's going on in the world. We were Marked only about a day ago. These dreams make us sleep a lot longer than we think we are."

"Wait. You aren't dead?" she asked.

"No. And neither are you," Jared said, pointing to her breathign body.

"I can't figure out how to get back in there! I want to tell them I'm OK!" she whined. My gut was telling me to say something, so I opened my mouth...

"Nyx says you aren't OK," I blurted. "Your soul has been broken, and when that happened it fell away from your body. Heath fixed it but you never reatatched to your body. Your Spirit is broken, and the only was to fix it is to use the power of Dream." My eyes widened. I think I just found one of the elements! The power of DREAM! Hmm.......

"Nyx is using you more than me," Zoey raised her eyebrows. "Someone else to get some of the not-normal-ness." I ignored her.

"Jared I just found one of the other 2 elements," I whispered, spinning to look him in the face. But judging by his expression he knew.

"Dream," he whispered. "And it looks like we have affinities for said element."


	8. We Have To Jump

"OK," Zoey said testily. "So there is Dream, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Spirit. So there's one left."

"Seems that way," I nodded.

"Alex I know what it is," Jared said. He put his hands on my shoulders and shook me a little. "If there is Dream, the Dream is what the Mind makes. What does the body make?"

"Reality," I said. "But all the other elements fall into that. That's not right..... What about.... Wait. If Dream is made by the mind, what id the other element is made by nothing the mind can control? Like.... nature?"

"Oh good Goddess," Jared said. He looked at me, and our eyes widened at the same time.

"Weather," I said.

"It's a messed up version of some of the elements," Jared said. "Twisted until it isn't really the elements any more. And the mind doesn't really control it."

"You guys are just like the Twins," Zoey mused, looking at us.

"Dragon said the same thing," I said.

"He said they were in your group," Jared added.

"Yeah, Erin and Shawnee," Zoey agreed. "It's like they share a brain." Jared and I laughed.

"Actually, for us it's like that," I said.

"We have the same birthdays," Jared said.

"And the same eyes." I grinned.

"We both love bombs."

"And horses."

"Neither of us knew our dads."

"And we're only children."

"Oh, and don't forget we share these things," Jared pointed to our foreheads.

"And we have a secret," I said. I was careful not to hint what that secret was.... everybody would totally freak if anyone found out. I wasn't telling anybody. Not even you.

"Well that is a lot of similarities," Zoey nodded. "Erin and Shawnee are completely different on the outside, but the same on the inside."

"OK. Zoey, we need to know exactly what's going on," I said. "Dragon and us can only help if we know what happened."

"Then wake up and go back and just get me the hell back in my body!" she yelled. Jared and I exchanged a glance, nodded, and woke up. _That was easy...._

I looked around the plane. Jared was next to me, the seat was behind me, and the window was next to me. Everything was right. I stood up with my toes in the plush rug. _Wait. What happened to my seat belt??_ I looked back, and saw a sleeping version of my self. I screamed. Jared looked at me, then my body, then me, then my body again. He stood, also leaving behind his body.

"Shit. We didn't wake up," I said. "But wait...... we're only supposed to be seeing stuff that's important. Nothing is going on."

As soon as I said that there was a panicked yelling coming from the other room. Jared and I ran in... and Dragon was desperately flipping gear shifts.

"GUYS!" He yelled. "WAKE UP!" We didn't. We were still there staring at him. "WE'RE OUT OF GAS! GET UUUUUP!!"

I bit my lip and focused every speck of my energy into my right hand pointer-finger. I pressed it to the glass in front of Dragon.

**_WE'RE LISTENING._**

"Oh Goddess," Dragon mumbled. "You really can visit places in your dreams... Well guys we're all about to die cause we're out of gas and we're gonna crash."

Then we woke up. We were jolted back into our seats. We unbuckled our seat belts and ran into the pilot cock. Dragon looked at us with a relieved expression.

"OK well you get to be awake when you die," Dragon said. Jared and I exchanged a glance.

"Jared, we have three options," I said. "We could jump."

"We could stay and die."

"Or we could reveal our secret and live," I added. He crinkled his nose. "Jared, you know it's the only gaurenteed way to live."

"Yeah, but what will we do once we live? Everyone will know," he said.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO TALKING ABOUT!?" Dragon yelled.

"LET US DEBATE!!" We yelled back.

"We'll never know what we'll do if we don't live," I told Jared.

"I guess......." he said. I nodded and turned to Dragon.

"Open the door. We need to jump..." I said. His eyes widened, but he obeyed.

"Jared you're stronger you'll have to carry him," I said. Jared nodded. I bit my lip and Jared and I both slid out of our hoodies. I grabbed the pack we had filled with our bombs, and Jared hefted Dragon into his arms. Dragon's eyes were huge and he was struggling.

"Trust us," Jared said. Dragon settled, and Jared and I walked to the door Dragon had opened. We exchanged another look, and then we jumped.


End file.
